THE FEAR
“It’s an engine. And what’s frustrating is we don’t really know how to start it or keep it running.”
So – having gotten back into the thicket of my notes, and the story design I attempted to do previously, I can now officially report: I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to write this next book. (Which would be my fifteenth.) At the very least it's going to be harder than hell; and the prospect of attempting it is, right now, totally terrifying.
And I can't imagine anyone has ever been here before, or had this particular problem.
“And he had learned another lesson, right down to his bones: ‘Writing doesn't get easier, it gets harder. Writing is harder each time. Each time you write a script it's more difficult.’”
- Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) in Screen Plays: How 25 Screenplays Made It to a Theater Near You – for Better or Worse by David S. Cohen
“Fear doesn't go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates the battle must be fought anew every day. The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome.”
- Steven Pressfield, The War of Art
“The power to resist makes the hero journey affective. And for the audience to undergo that journey, it's essential that the writer undergo the journey. That's why writing never gets any easier.”
- David Mamet, Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama
Even more here.
Hell – how'd I miss this one?
“I love to write. But it has never gotten any easier to do and you can't expect it to if you keep trying for something better than you can do.”
- Ernest Hemingway, On Writing
